Archive

As we head into autumn there are two things looming large on the horizon: Strictly Come Dancing… and Christmas. How better to combine the two, than with our professional dancers' calendars!

Following on from the success of Ian Waite's 'Man for All Seasons' calendar last year, he commissioned us to create a follow-up calendar using photographs from his summer shoot in Majorca.

Provided with the disk of unedited images, we all got to work whittling them down — Ian choosing his favourites, which we then retouched and laid into our new format design. This year we upped the size to A3 to provide more space for fans to write, still including a couple of bonus pages as per last year's. Striking white-suited images provided the front and back covers, and with the summery shots within, we coined the title the 'Whitehot Calendar' with straplines referencing the 'smouldering looks and year-round heat' on offer — all adding another dimension to the product.

Again in wall and desk formats, Ian approved the artwork and we set about preparing print-ready files and creating the renders for his online shop and HTML emailshot to his mailing list. Like last year, each calendar will be signed by Ian nearer to Christmas — in another mammoth session!

More top billing Strictly clients of ours, Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag were also keen to be there for their fans over '366 days of dance' — and using the images from their 2010 'Puttin' On The Ritz' tour, we created their 2012 calendar with the suitably music-hall title, 'Night and Day'. Their beautiful portraits were used to great effect at A3, showing the exquisite detail in Erin's dresses and we added the starry backdrops from the new website we created for them earlier this year to keep everything on brand and suitably sparkling. Extra pages were added, including a year-to-view planner and full-page print for the Nation's Favourite Ballroom Couple to hand sign.

With Anton and Erin's approval on the design and layout, we prepped the file for print, created the marketing renders and set the product live on their online shop to coincide with the Strictly Launch Show on the 10th September… simultaneously sending out a beautifully styled HTML email to their mailing list.

Household names, national treasures and dance icons, Anton & Erin are one of the most renowned ballroom dancing partnerships since Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers. As high profile entertainers, the couple are never far from the media spotlight and Bungalow Industries were duly thrilled and honoured to be commissioned by this illustrious couple to give them a brand refresh and website makeover.

Starting with a beautiful set of studio-based images from Greg King capturing the couple in some lyrical poses, we set to work compiling and editing text, images and video content to ensure the site was rich in fresh media and an authoritative archive of the old. Using Greg's photographs as large as possible to give the fans a real treat, combined with some subtle spotlighting, silvered logotype and starry backdrop, the concept for the site was born.

Followed by an already extensive – and active – fanbase, the site had to provide greater functionality than our previous sites to date and so we integrated a messageboard coined the 'Speakeasy' as a forum for fans to engage with the site, each other, and Anton & Erin too. Complete with a blog, gallery, bookings & events pages, and a print-and-poster-stocked online shop it was developing into a showbiz site of apt style and class!

We're particularly proud of the 'Strictly' section. From a splash page of its own introducing the couple in a 'presenterly' manner, you then get to enjoy their celebrity pairings, dances and videos from every series on dancecards portrayed in a cheekily 'Play Your Cards Right' format! No small feat of collation, but the interface certainly kept us amused throughout!

A pre-launch countdown and sign-up period amassed a mailing list of fans who received a lovely email invitation from Anton & Erin to visit the site when it went live on schedule, 1st June.

Complimentary comments flooded in to the inaugural blog post – and over twitter too with both @theAntonDuBeke and @ErinBoag having over 15,000 followers apiece and receiving countless tweets of approval. The Speakeasy opened its doors to eager fans posting their thoughts and comments and starting dance topics of their own... and the hits haven't abated.

We don't mind admitting that it's been particularly exciting to watch the site take on a life of its own!

With 'Strictly' season soon upon us we have our fingers and toes crossed that Anton & Erin will once again appear as professional dancers – for their 9th series, no less – and that their new website will grow into a lively meeting place for current fans, and help them become fast friends with new followers.

Just had a little look at the site... It's brilliant and really easy to find your way around!

...fromJane Anne Wilson, 08-Jun-2011 04:15 PM

A beautiful website of real class. Well done to the talented, very special Bungalow boys. With best wishes.

...fromPeggy Denman, 08-Jun-2011 04:16 PM

I have just spent an hour exploring the new site. It's stylish, sophisticated and simply stunning. Well done David & Scott - another Bungalow Success!!!. XXX

...fromJane Readman, 08-Jun-2011 04:29 PM

That is absolutely amazing – you must so pleased! I'm sending it on to people to view – as I think it's soooooo lovely. I am sure that Anton and Erin must be thrilled with it..... love the forum bit. XX

...fromCatriona Williams, 08-Jun-2011 04:33 PM

Dear David and Scott, Love the website, they are the epitome of elegance! Well done, hope you have had lots of hits. Lots of Love to you both XX

...fromValerie Moore, 08-Jun-2011 04:36 PM

Fantastic new website, just oozes class and star quality, bit like you guys!

Bungalow Industries are delighted to tell you all about the launch of our latest project - the new website for Strictly Come Dancing's Erin Boag!

Beautifully photographic with magazine-inspired design and layout, and interview-style content, Erin's thrilled with the website - as are her fans who were eager to tweet their approval and post comments to her new blog!

We were keen from the outset that this site should present Erin as an individual performer with a strong identity beyond that of her professional dance partnership with Anton du Beke and we've created an engaging, informative and interactive site for Erin, her fans and her corporate clients.

It's really rewarding to see it working for her already: Erin is writing and uploading her own blog posts, posting answers to her fans' questions in the Ask Erin section, and managing the enquiries that are coming in via her contact form. It's also the perfect place for her to collate her favourite photographs and YouTubes and have a swish archive of her career. All this, plus the backstage buzz from her live stream of tweets makes for something new to read each time the fans log on.

We've also included Boag's Boutique - Erin's online shop, containing some lovely prints (produced here, in-house), and Erin will pop in and sign them as required. There are also some super postcard packs that we've put together along with her DVDs... and there's more merchandise to come!

Erin came to Bungalow after seeing fellow Strictly professional dancer Ian Waite's website - a brand and site we launched last September at the start of the seventh series of the show. Erin is a savvy celebrity and understood the potential held within a great website - not just for giving back to her fans, but also in promoting herself to the corporate events market. And with a powerful back-end system tracking all enquiries, Erin now has more than a website - she has an online business.

We're sure that her website will be a great asset for Erin during the 8th series of Strictly Come Dancing which all starts off with a red carpet launch on BBC1 this coming Saturday, 11th September at 6:25pm!

Bungalow couldn't be more proud and excited to have not just one, but two extremely talented clients on prime-time BBC television this autumn with both Erin and Ian appearing on Strictly. Dust off the glitterball and dry-clean the glad rags - ballroom mania is set to sweep the nation once again!